Box-panel and sealing mechanism therefor.



S. B. FIELD.

Box PANEL AND sEALlNG MEcHANlsM THEREFoR;

APPLIQATION FILED JULY 22. |915. I

y 1,198,336. Patentedsept. 12,1916.

/MM ghwmclgf@ SAMEL B. FIELD/OF HOLIBBOOK, MASSCHU'SETTS, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-FOURTH T0 PNEUMATIG SCALE CORPORATION, LIMITED, OF QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS, A. COR- POBTION 0E' MAINE, AND THREE-FOURTHS TO WILLIAM H. DOBLE, Gli' I*"IJ'INCY,

MASSACHUSETTS.

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original application filed November 20,

To all whom t may concern Be it known that l, SAMUEL B. FIELD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Holbrook, county of Norfolk, State of vMassachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in ABox-Panels and Sealing Mechanism Therfor, of which-the following is a specification, reference being had therein to they accompanying drawings.

rlhe invention relates to an improvement in a safety lock and sealing device for a box cover or panel and is a division of Patent No. 1,162,466, granted November 30, 1915. Itis especially intended for appl'- cation to folding metallic boxesA to serve as shipping cases in which the goods may be packed for shipping and which can be folded into small compass to be returned to the shipper to be again used, and is especially applicable to that class of folding boxesin which the box is made of six lpanels in which the front is hinged to the bottom and to the two ends and the top or cover is hinged to the backthe front having a separable connectionwith the top and the back havnig a separable connection with the bottom. lt is also especially applicable to that class of such folding boxes in which the panelsare each formed with an inner and outerVv wall plate spaced apart from each other. lt is to be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to a folding box or to one in which the panels are formed with hollow walls.

When applied to a folding box of the character above mentioned, the object is to provide a simple form of safety lock and sealing device between the top (which may be termed a cover) and a front, and between 'the bottom and the rear panel, which can be easily applied whenthe box is to be sealed up after being filled and which can be readily removed when fthe box is to be unypackedainl which coperates with the vinterengaging connectionskr between the two ends of the top and bottom panelsto hold the box in rigid form when set up and sealed. The

seal is destroyed when opening the box and therefore serves asia tell-tale to prevent any one'tampering with the box by opening the y seal and closin it again unless he has an ad' ditional one othe special forms Aof sealing 1914y Serial o. 873,092. Divided 'and this application filed July Serial NoQaLilS.

clips, the clips themselves being simple and cheap and 1t 1s intended to use a new one every time the box is refilled.

rlhe invention will be fully .understoody 4 from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings' and the novel features thereof will be pointed ont and clearly defined in the claims at the close ci the specification.

ln the drawings, Figure 1 is a' plan view of a box embodying the invention.v Fig. 2

is a vertical section online 3 3 of Fig. 1 on Referring now tothe drawings A. represents the front panel, B the back and E the cover or top panel. lrlhe front A has a sep arable connection with the top panel E by means-of the sealing clips hereinafter to be described and, if the box is to be used as a folding box, preferably the back B will have a similar connection with the bottom, which is not shown because in such case the connection would be exactly similar to the connection between the two panels A and E. 'inthe form of construction shown each of the panels is made with an inner wall plate 1 and an outer wall plate 2 having a space between them which is preferably braced or stiifened with corrugated plates between kthe walls, as for instance as shown in Patent No. 941,013 dated November 23, 1909, or in an other suitable manner. 'ln the form of construction shown in the drawings the top E is hingedto the back B in such manner as to permit the top panel to be folded over against the outer face of the back.4

The front edges of the plates 1 and Q of the top panel E stop a little short` of the said top panel, at its front edge, there is i inserted a channel piece 11 which ts snugly between said plates 1, 2 andis firmly secured by soldering or otherwise, and has a projecting o'set loop portion of peculiar form and construction to form a vertical back rest 12 for the upper partof the channel piece of the front panel A and to form a horizontal portion 13 which rests upon the upper end of the channel piece of the front i panel A. From the front lower edge of the Y so horizontal portion 13 of the channel piece 11 the loop thereof has a backward and upward sloping portion 14 which rises somewhat higher than the .upper surface of the outer plate 2 of the `top panel E and then has a downwardly extending shoulder ortion 15, and is then bent to form a part et) the shank of the channel piece 11. Preferably' the space of the loop formed bythe bent portions 13, 14 and 15 of the channel piece 11 is filled by a core'16 of metal or other suitable stiffening material.

-The inner and outer plates .1, 2 of the front panel A terminate somewhat short of the under side of the top panel, and into the space between said two plates. there is inserted a channel plate -17 which projects above the plates 1, 2 of said front panel and forms a part of the panel. The outer face of theupwardly extending portion of said channel plate-17 above the top of the outer plate 2 of the panel A .is formed with a reentrant bend making an inwardly inclined portion 18 and terminating in an outwardly extending loop portion 19. Said loop portion 19 has a flat, upper face 2O on which rests the flat portion 13 of thechannel piece 11. A stifener core 21 is insert'ed'into .the

' loop of the channel piece 17.

gether the top of the front panel andthe front edge of the top panel-after' the box has been filled. 'Preferably theJ clips are of such form thatthey canbe readily attached and bent into sealing positionin such man'- ner as to make them secure during the transportation, and which can be bent up again to detach them,.and they are of such lmater1al that although they are sutliciently strong and tough to be used'once they will not stand the necessary bending required for attachlng them again to the box after they have once been bent to detach them. 'These clips are made out of sheetmetal which maybe flexed under the blow of a; hammerp but have little or n'o resiliency and therefore lt)hey will retain any form to which they are ent. f

In the preferred form of construction the clip has a body portion 22 which is ada ted to lie over the front inclined face 1.4 o the channel piece 11 and terminates at its lower end in a hookportion 23 which is adapted to gol over the outer edge of the loop portion of the channel piece 17 and hook 4under V the fiat under face of said loop as shown inA Fig. 2. The other end of the body portion of the clip is bent to form a hook ortion 24 which engages over the top edge o the channel piece ll-and extends at an angle to the vertical portion 15 of the said channel piece 11 so that the hookl portion 24 must be bent down in order to bring it flush against the face of 'the said portion 15. It also has an ear 25 which extends at about Va right. angle to the portion Y 24 and stands` at an acute angle to the'outer plate 2 of the upper panel. The clips in detached condition are of the shape shown in Fig.'2 and in this form they can be easily engaged with the two channel members 11, 17 as shown in.Fig. 2. Then in order to securely fasten the clip in place, the portion 24 is bent down sharply as shown )in Fig, 3 .to bring the inner face of the portion 24 in contact with the vertical face 15 of the 'channel piece 11 and to bring the ear 25 at down into contact withv the outer face Y of the panel E. This can be done by the` use of a suitable tool and it does not require other fastening because the metal is of such character that it retains its bent form. Preferably the ear 25 is provided with a hole 26 to serve as, an engaging place ,for a screw driver or other suitable tool to bend up lthe ear v25 in order to release the cli Preferably these clips are made of relative y short length and a plurality of them are.

used, as shown in Fig. 1 instead ofemploying one long clip. It is desirable-to make the clips of rather thin sheet material, and in order togive them the requisite stiness it is preferable to stamp them u so as to them of a metal so treated thatit will have a degree of brittleness which will allow the clips'to be bent into the sealing form without breaking but which will be suiciently form ribs 27. It is also preferab e to make weakened in bending the clip to remove it so' that itcannot be used a second/time. One way of doing this is to make a core oi relatively soft metal and -case hardening the. n

sometimes termed half hard metal. Similar clips to those above described for securing v surface, or by tempering it to form what is Y the contiguous edges of the back and -bot- 'I tom; In order to prevent the clips from sliding off endwise after they have been.

bent down into operative condition, the channel member 14 is formed with lugs or shoulders 41, one on either side of each clip, tolimit the possible range 'of movement. v The box when set up is perfectly rigid, 8.8

the interengaging portions formed by the channel pieces serve to4 hold the vvariouspanels in lace.

While have described the top panel as c -being made of inner and outer plates, v and a channel 'plate 11 with its peculiarly 130 along the adjacentledges of said panels, in

`l7 having the peculiar offset form to furnish bearing surfaces for the channel plate of the panel E and engagingportions for the clip, .it is obvious that if the top panel and the front panel were made either solid or in any other manner by which offset edges were provided to form engaging portions for the clips, they would come withinv the scope of the invention. l

While the sealing clip above described is the preferred form of seal to be used, it is obvious that the particular form of seal may be varied. Any suitable form of seal which engages the projecting portions of the adjacent edges of said two adjacent panels, and is of such a character that it is practically destroyed whenI the seal is opened to disngage the two panels-from each other comes within the scope of this invention and it is intended that the claims shall be construed to cover such variable form of seal. j

What I claim is:

1. A metallic boxI having two adjacent panels which form two of the wallsA of the box each formed with -shouldered portions j combination with a fastening mechanism,

the first-engagement. t i 2. In combination with a box having two-A .said `fastening mechanism consisting of a metallic clip bent into locking engagement with the said shouldered portions of both of said panelswithout penetrating the surface, said. clip being of sufficient flexibility and toughness to permit bending it once to form such locking engagement and which is sufi-- ciently frangible so that it will break in an attempt to bend it a second time for engagement after it has been bent to releaseit from adjacent panels each formed with a shoulder portion adapted to be engaged .by a hook portion of a metal clip, mechanism for fastening together said two adjacent panels,

. said fastening mechanism consisting of a metallic clip which is' formed with two hook Y 1 portions to respectively engage with said 3 e shoulder portions of the twopanels to fasten the two panels together, one ofV said hook portions having a flat extension which Vis adapted to lie agalnst the face of oneof hooks being of such form `that after the clip V is partially engaged it requires further bending to complete the engagement, the said clip being adapted to lock said -panels together solely by surface engagement ofthe hook ,members with said shoulders without penetration. j y

3. In combination'. with a metallic box having a cover, said cover and one of the ad. jacent panels each being formed with shouldered portions to be engaged by aclip, a fastening clip having two bent portions, one of whichis adapted to engage the shouldered portion of saidy cover and the other of which is adapted to engage with the shouldered portion of-said panel, the said bent portion which engages with the cover re# quiring and being adapted for'still further bending to complete the locking engagement without penetration.

4. In combination with a metallic box .i

having a cover, said cover and one of the' adjacent panels each "being formed with shouldered portions to. beengaged by a clip,

a fastening clip ,havingtwobent portlons, one of which is adapted to engage the shouldered portion of said cover and the other of which is adapted to engage'with the shouldered portion of -said panel, the said bent portion which engages -With the cover re'- qulring and being adapted for still further bending lto complete the locking engagement without penetration and `terminating in an extension portion which engages with the face of the cover when the vsaid Aclip is bentinto locking engagement. A

5. A metallic clip for fastening together two adjacent panels of a box, said clip being composed of sheet metal having a body portion with two of its opposite edges bent around to form hook portions, one of said said panels ofthe box while the saidthook members engage the shouldered-portions of said two panels.

' In. testimony whereof I aiiix my signa- 100` ture, inv presence of two witnesses SAMUEL B. FIELD.. Witnesses:

f WILLIAM A. Corman,

Amen H. MORRISON. 

